Brave new world.A Dow past 8000? Chinos chi·no n. pl. chi·nos 1. A coarse twilled cotton fabric used for uniforms and sometimes work or sports clothes. 2. Trousers made of a coarse twilled cotton. Often used in the plural. in the workplace? A phone in every briefcase? A consultant in every office? Low unemployment and low inflation? Who'd have imagined it? No wonder managing change is the mantra of these times. DRESS (DOWN) FOR SUCCESS The man in the gray flannel suit had to rethink his uniform when corporations large and small instituted Casual Fridays - and IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , that bastion of the Big Blue suit, went casual five days a week. Critics wondered whether loosened ties would unravel the work ethic work ethic n. A set of values based on the moral virtues of hard work and diligence. work ethic Noun a belief in the moral value of work , but supporters pointed to sneaker-clad success in Silicon Valley. And while suit sales shriveled shriv·el intr. & tr.v. shriv·eled or shriv·elled, shriv·el·ing or shriv·el·ling, shriv·els 1. To become or make shrunken and wrinkled, often by drying: , casual-wear merchants from The Gap to Armani hastened to cash in on the trend. As a result, notes designer and fashion pundit An expert or knowledgeable person. From "pandit" in Hindi. See guru. Alan Flusser Alan Flusser is an American author and designer of men's clothing. In 1979 he founded Alan Flusser Designs. In 1985 he won the the 1985 Coty Award as Top Menswear Designer, and received the Cutty Sark Award in 1987. , "You're seeing relaxed, less uniform environments - a general mindset mind·set or mind-set n. 1. A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretations of situations. 2. An inclination or a habit. that underlines the casualness/comfort approach to dressing." But, for now, it's a mindset confined to American shores. Notes Valerie Steele Valerie Fahnestock Steele (born 1955) is a fashion historian, curator, and director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She was appointed director of the museum in 2003. , chief curator at New York's Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, "You don't see European and Asian businesspeople dressing in chinos and ties." STRESSED-OUT WORKERS In 1977, job stress didn't even exist as a topic in library references. Today, one-third of all Americans want to reduce it, complaining of being frazzled on the job and exhausted by the lack of time for themselves at home. A chief cause has been downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing - nearly half of American CEOs reduced their workforce during the last decade - routinely requiring one employee to do the work of an estimated 1.3 people. The hardest hit were not necessarily the busiest but those facing big demands with little autonomy, especially blue-collar workers performing noisy, repetitive jobs. Widely dispersed throughout the South and a handful of big cities, those stressed. out employees worry about job layoffs, cutbacks and increased work loads. Hardly workaholics - they're more likely than average Americans to enjoy dancing, softball, bowling, and television - they long to spend longer hours at home. Opinion polls show they wish they had more time to cook, do household chores, and relax with their spouses and children. For now, however, they manage the old-fashioned way: consuming relatively large amounts of pain relievers and bourbon. But CEOs should take note for the future: A significant percentage say they'd be willing to take a 20 percent pay cut in exchange for fewer hours on the job. - Michael J. Weiss HOW'RE WE DOING? Some Leading Indications That Things Aren't As They Were Unemployment in U.S. June 1977: 7.1% June 1997: 5.0% Inflation 1977: 6.7% (average for May '76-May '77) 1997: 1.4% (average for May '96-May '97) Consumer Confidence Index Consumer Confidence Index A measure of consumer views regarding the current economic situation and consumer expectations for the future. Information for the index is compiled and released on the last Tuesday of each month by the Conference Board, an 1977: 97.9 (average for year) 1997:129.6 (preliminary for June) Prime Rate February 1977: 6.25% February 1997: 8.25% New Business Incorporations 1977: 36,450 (per month average) 1996: 66,118 (per month average) Bankruptcies 1977: 208,350 1996: 1,178,555 Manufacturers' New Orders (1987 $) 1977: $28,653,000,000 1997: $42,140,000,000 (projected) New Product Introductions (supermarket items) 1977: 1,218 1996: 13,266 Patents Issued 1977: 72,832 1996: 116,875 Trademarks Registered 1977: 25,026 1996: 78,674 Retail Sales of Licensed Merchandise 1977: $ 4.9 billion 1996: $72.28 billion Typical Workweek 1977: 38.8 hours 1997: 39.3 hours Average U.S. Household Income (constant $) 1977: $34,132 1995: $34,076 Highest CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Pay (total remuneration) 1977: Charles W. Lake, Jr., R.R. Donnelley & Sons: $990,000 1997: Millard Drexler Millard S. Drexler is a businessman, formerly CEO of Gap Inc, he joined the board of directors of Gap in November 1983 and left his position in October 2002. Since January 2003, Drexler has been Chairman and CEO of J. Crew Group, Inc. He has been a director at Apple Inc. since 1999. , The Gap: $104,922,000 Dow Jones Average Dow Jones Average, indicators used to measure and report value changes in representative stock groupings on the New York stock exchange. There are four different averages—industrial stocks, transportation stocks, utility stocks, and a composite average of all July 1, 1977: 912.65 July 1, 1997: 7722.33 NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on (composite index Composite Index A grouping of equities, indexes or other factors combined in a standardized way, providing a useful statistical measure of overall market or sector performance over time. Also known simply as a "composite". ) July 1, 1977: 99.90 July 1, 1997: 1438.25 Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) A research agency of the U.S. Department of Labor; it compiles statistics on hours of work, average hourly earnings, employment and unemployment, consumer prices and many other variables. ; Conference Board; Federal Reserve Bank; Commerce Department; Administrative Office of U.S. Courts; New Product News; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; The Licensing Letter; Forbes magazine. PUT AWAY THOSE CONSULTANT JOKES What's today's hottest growth industry? You wouldn't be far off if you guessed management consulting Noun 1. management consulting - a service industry that provides advice to those in charge of running a business service industry - an industry that provides services rather than tangible objects . What's driven this rocket? Maybe It was the monsoon of middle managers unleashed through downsizing. Or the ecoterica imposed by galloping Information technology. Or the move toward virtual organizations fueled by outsourcing. Whatever the cause, the effects are clear: Consultants In the '90s, says Tom Rodenhauser, managing editor at Consultants News, "are held accountable far their work," rather than being judged largely on the volume of their business. They tend, be adds, to be doers, rather than advisors, partners rather than vendors. THE B-SCHOOL BONANZA "In 1977, an MBA MBA abbr. Master of Business Administration Noun 1. MBA - a master's degree in business Master in Business, Master in Business Administration guaranteed a challenging, rewarding career in management," says Charles Hickman of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business. "Now an MBA is an assumed credential and only a prerequisite." Not surprising, then, that the number of MBAs granted per year has doubled and the number of U.S. universities offering these MBAs has increased by nearly 50 percent. Even more telling, perhaps, are changes in the curriculum, with management technology, environmental concerns, diversity, ethics, leadership, and teamwork moving to center stage. And reflecting, perhaps, lessons come to life, notes Hickman, students are increasingly likely to seek business training "just in time" rather than "just in case" - a trend that's caused the number of executive MBA programs in the U.S. to quadruple in 20 years. GREEN ACRES
Tune into cable TV's Nick at Night any weekday evening and you'll think you've been transported back to those happy days when smiling witches ruled the suburban roost, Cuban band leaders gave English lessons, and advertising was a simple business. So nostalgic are the Nicksters about the advertising of our youth that they've hired a twentysomething ad team to create a series of faux spots that ape Nick's chosen timeframe. But nostalgia isn't what it used to be. And neither is advertising. New media, technology, techniques, and market research have forever changed Forever Changed was a Christian Rock band from Tallahassee and Orlando, FL. They came together in 1999 and broke up in 2006. Dan Cole was the lead singer, a guitarist, and a pianist. Ben O'Rear was the lead guitarist, Tom Gustafson played bass, and Nathan Lee played the drums. the marketing and media mix. As ad agencies merge, purge, and expand across a global canvas, print continues to erode, the networks lose share to cable, television itself faces marketing-dollar competition from direct and event marketing - and everyone wonders about the Internet. Throw in the move from mass marketing toward a one-to-one focus and you've got a witch's brew of choices even a twitch of Samantha's nose couldn't straighten out. THE TOP COMPANIES In 1995, Fortune rethought the configuration of the listing of top companies it's compiled since 1955, adding service firms to a mix that was once purely manufacturing-oriented. Nonetheless, the Top 10 clique (mathematics) clique - A maximal totally connected subgraph. Given a graph with nodes N, a clique C is a subset of N where every node in C is directly connected to every other node in C (i.e. C is totally connected), and C contains all such nodes (C is maximal). has changed little over 20 years, reflecting mostly a jockeying for position. The key differences are evident lower down, where oil companies have slipped and newly established technology firms have soared. 77 1. Exxon 2. General Motors 3. Ford 4. Texaco 5. Mobil 6. Standard Oil 7. Gulf Oil 8. IBM 9. General Electric 10. Chrysler 97 1. General Motors 2. Ford 3. Exxon 4. Wal-Mart Stores 5. General Electric 6. IBM 7. AT&T 8. Mobil 9. Chrysler 10. Philip Morris LEADING THE WORLD In 1988, Just months after the stork stork, common name for members of a family of long-legged wading birds. The storks are related to the herons and ibises and are found in most of the warmer parts of the world. market crash and in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of America's global inferiority complex inferiority complex Acute sense of personal inferiority, often resulting in either timidity or (through overcompensation) exaggerated aggressiveness. Though once a standard psychological concept, particularly among followers of Alfred Adler, it has lost much of its , Business Week launched its Global 1000. initially the list, which is based on market capitalization Market Capitalization A measure of a public company's size. Market capitalization is the total dollar value of all outstanding shares. It's calculated by multiplying the number of shares times the current market price. This term is often referred to as market cap. , was a paean Paean (pē`ən), Paean was an epithet for Apollo, the healer. The paean, a hymn of praise to Apollo and often to other gods, was sung as a prayer for safety or deliverance at battles and other important occasions. to what seemed to be an emerging Japanese century. But that's changed. Now U.S. firms dominate, and Japan's sun continues to be eclipsed: 45 Japanese companies This is a list of companies from Japan. Note that 株式会社 can be (and frequently is) read both kabushiki kaisha and kabushiki gaisha (with or without a hyphen). See that article for more details. fell off the list in 1997 alone. 88 1. NTT NTT Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation NTT New Technology Telescope NTT National Technology Transfer, Inc NTT Name That Tune (TV game show) NTT National Tree Trust NTT Number Theoretic Transform (Japan) 2. Sumitomo Bank (Japan) 3. IBM (U.S.) 4. Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank The Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Limited (株式会社第一勧業銀行 (Japan) 5. Fuji Bank (Japan) 6. Exxon (U.S.) 7. Tokyo Electric Power Japan) 8. Komura Securities (Japan) 9. Ind. Bank of Japan (Japan) 10. Mitsubishi Bank (Japan) 97 1. General Electric (U.S.) 2. Coca-Cola (U.S.) 3. Royal Dutch/Shell (Neth./U. K.) 4. NTT (Japan) 5. Microsoft (U.S.) 6. Exxon (U.S.) 7. Intel (U.S.) 8. Toyota (Japan) 9. Merck (U,S.) 10. Philip Morris (U.S.) COUPON CLIPPERS Twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. ago, coupon clippers tended to be middle-class homemakers who cashed in 10 percent of all manufacturer coupons. Today, redemption rates are barely 2 percent, but the couponists themselves have grown in number and affluence. More than two-thirds of all Americans currently use coupons to try new products, and they tend to be college educated, over 45, and upper-middle class. One reason for this upward mobility is the sheer volume of new-product launches - about 20,000 each year - targeted to "early adopter" consumers who are more educated and wealthy than average Americans. Another factor is the growing number of distribution methods beyond newspaper inserts to roach upscale consumers, including direct mail, instore kiosks, point-of-sale scanners, and Internet Websites. Contrary to the belief that the sheer volume of promotional message is turning off consumers, couponists tell pollsters that they wish they could spend more time bargain shopping and keeping up with fashion. Indeed, industry experts predict couponing cou·pon·ing n. The sending out or turning in of coupons, especially the regular redemption of a manufacturer's coupon for cash. will grow in the future to keep up with consumers who hold this more-for-less acquisitive ethic. But CEOs will have to tap new technology to find harder-to-reach upscale consumers, relying increasingly on databases of individual lifestyles and purchase patterns. - Michael J. Weiss WORK IS WHERE THE LAPTOP IS Time was, executives measured seniority by the number of lights in their ceilings, and corporations measured success by the grandeur of their headquarters. Now, that same executive, when he or she isn't working out of the home, the car, or the client's office, is likely to be making a basis, with a cubicle, a plug-in phone, and a modem-equipped outlet for the ubiquitous laptop. Twenty years ago, notes Jim Hackett, CEO of Steelcase, the Grand Rapids, MI, office furniture manufacturer, 80 percent of office space was geared to the individual worker; 20 percent was shared space. Today, the ratio has flipped. The reason: A convergence of business trends. For example: Flattened hierarchies have emphasized teamwork. Downsizing has eliminated workers and layers. Technology has made it easier to work from remote locations. Outsourcing has fostered alliances with service providers far away from the mother ship - and made it necessary for all parties to shuttle between each other's offices. And the search for cost control has honed in on real estate, determining that less has got to be more. All of which has led to a dismantling of many grand headquarters - and a boon for furniture companies who've pioneered designs that take these trends into consideration. DICK TRACY LIVES Apple loyalists might be having a hard time keeping the faith these days, but back in 1977, the Jobs/Wozniak garage band was setting the stage for a technological revolution that would rock the world. Today, laptops and personal digital assistants are de rigeur; cellular phones ring everywhere you go; e-mail has brought back literacy; videoconferencing may well cut down on travel time - and hot new technology companies dominate the CE100, our annual list of firms experiencing the fastest stock-price growth. 20 YEARS TO FLATTER CHARTS The last two decades may have sent corporations sprawling across the globe, forging alliances and joint ventures wherever possible, pursuing mergers and acquisitions with a vengeance, but they've also been marked by some of the strictest aerobic regimens ever Imposed on the body corporate. In the spirit of re-engineering, in the search for quality, through the exercise of benchmarking, these corporations have built non-hierarchical teams, liposuctioned the traditional functional silos The Silos are a band formed by Walter Salas-Humara and Bob Rupe in New York City in 1985. Prior to starting the Silos, Walter played with The Vulgar Boatmen. With Salas-Humara emerging as the Silos' primary songwriter, the band put out the independently-released EP About Her Steps , reduced the bulging work force, and, looking in the mirror, proclaimed themselves at long last lean and mean - ready, they believe, to sprint into the new millennium. SERVICE WORKERS The U.S. workplace is steadily shifting towards knowledge-based jobs requiring a skilled workforce. But real job growth over the past two decades has been among low-wage service workers - up 45 percent to 17.2 million. Today, some 13.1 percent of Americans hold personal service jobs such as waitpersons, police officers, nurse's aides, and child-care workers. But their wages remain low - their average income is $15,860 - and have grown little compared to those in managerial and professional-specialty jobs in computers, financial services, and consulting. Service workers include a disproportionate number of minorities, divorcees, and single parents with relatively little education. As a group, they share modest lifestyles - their favorite store Woolworth's - only occasionally managing to splurge on consumer electronics, with above-average purchase rates of satellite dishes, pagers, and TV sets. What they don't buy are computers, a fact that shouldn't be lost on CEOs. As the nation moves towards the emerging information-based economy, companies are going to have to help train service workers with the right education and skills to cope with 21st century jobs. If not, their numbers will continue to expand in the next 20 years, while wages, educational achievement, and opportunities will shrink. - Michael J. Weiss WORK FORCE '97: WE ARE THE WORLD It's no secret that the '90s work force is more diverse than its '70s predecessor. The media, the diversity-training workshops set up by human-resources departments, the vociferous champions of multi-culturalism, and even a fast glance at the crowd gathered by the watercooler have made that crystal clear. But it's not just that there are more women, more blacks, more Hispanics, more Asians, and more multi-nationals represented throughout the ranks - and even, increasingly, at the top. It's not just that whole fields have been "feminized." It's not just that more people now work for women-owned firms than for the Fortune 500 combined. And it's not just that corporations have come to realize that a diverse consumer base is best served by a diverse work force. It's that corporate cultures have been forced to adapt, becoming sensitive to family issues and paying more than lip service to employees' needs for flexibility - and restructuring themselves more than ever in the image of their employees. READ A GOOD BOOK LATELY? What are the most influential business books of the 20th century? We asked our readers for nominations. Their top five (including some ties): 1. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey 1. In Search of Excellence by Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman 2. Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices by Peter F. Drucker 2. The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker 3. Built to Last by James C. Collins For the football player of the same name see Jim Collins (football player). James C. "Jim" Collins, III (b. 1958, Boulder, Colorado) is an American business consultant, author, and lecturer on the subject of company sustainability and growth. , Jerry I. Porras Jerry I. Porras is a professor at Stanford University Graduate School of Business and '''Lane Professor Emeritus of Organizational Behavior and Change. He is also a business and management analyst who co-authored Success Built to Last: Creating A Life That Matters 4. The Bible 4. Competitive Strategy by Michael E. Porter 5. How to Win Friends and Influence People How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the first bestselling self-help books ever published. Written by Dale Carnegie and first published in 1936, it has sold more than 15 million copies. It was a New York Times best seller for 10 years. by Dale Carnegie The Bible? Maybe it's all those globe-trotting nights spent in hotel rooms, the Gideon Bible by their side. Or maybe it's evidence of a growing trend toward spirituality or a search for ethics. Respondents also nominated some other less obvious choices. Top among them: Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss Cather in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand Antony and Cleopatra Antony and Cleopatra victims of conflict between political ambition and love. [Br. Lit.: Antony and Cleopatra] See : Love, Tragic by Williams Shakespeare The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin |
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